As the Capulet and Montague families feud in Verona, Italy, their children Romeo (Richard Madden) and Juliet (Lily James) become star-crossed lovers. Knowing they can never be together – and with lots of drama involved – the two plan to run off together.

Instead of adaptations that keep the storyline in its original form or ones that put it in modern day, Branagh stages it in 1950s Italy. It gives the storyline style and sophistication. Mercutio (Derek Jacobi) is also made into an older figure that Romeo and Benvolio (Jack Colgrave Hirst) look up to.

Madden and James – whom previously starred in Branagh’s Cinderella – have electric chemistry that radiates off the screen.